Development of non toxic green nanomedicine

About us

Torskal is located in Reunion Island, french department overseas, strategically positioned in a global hotspot of biodiversity and on the silk road between Asia and Africa.

Torskal is a pionner green SME that designs new anticancer drugs by green chemistry. The reagents are extracted from medicinal plants and other bioresources from Indian Ocean. We demonstrated the interest of substituting all chemicals compounds by crude extracts from french endemic medicinal plants (registered in pharmacopeia): better hydrosolubility of mix flavonoids, better yield of synthesis, easy ligand exchange for the fonctionnalization, very low cytotoxicity, etc. This protocol is rapid, costless and leads to stable nanoparticles in aqueous media.

Plants are screened by first considering their biodisponibility, their technical facility to be exploited (maceration, extraction, which part of the plant) and their chemical composition and variability. Afterwards, the ratio of flavonoidic totum on synthesis of nanoparticles is studied. The best candidate is selected regarding the geometric (size, shape) criteria and in vitro, in vivo phototherapeutic results.

The first product of Torskal treats skin cancer by plasmonic phototherapy and allows the vizualisation of the region of interest by CT scan for an optimal treatment of the tumor.

Our team

Dr Anne-Laure MOREL, founder CEO

Founder president and scientific coordinator of the research programs.

She graduated from a PhD degree and worked in valorization of research in tax consulting firm in Paris, then in business incubator in La Réunion (french department overseas). She holds a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Pierre & Marie Curie University (Paris VI) and a Master’s Degree in Structural Biochemistry from the University of Bordeaux II. She completed her career with an executive Master from ESCP Europe. During her previous experience in french Tax Research (CIR, JEI, CII) and in marketing f innovation in french consulting firms Ayming (ex Alma Consulting Group) and D&Consultants, she was in charge of Research Tax Credit of SMEs and major accounts, and the realization of market studies, study of diversification of activity on behalf of scientific project leaders and SME in biotech. The management of the CYROI business incubator was entrusted to her in 2014, when she was asked to renew the AFNOR NF X 50770 certification and to double the portfolio of biotech companies in La Réunion.

Dr. Christophe DUGUE , associate & general manager

General manager and corporate lawyer

Christophe Dugué is responsible for regulatory affairs and holds a PhD in biology. He is also graduated from CEIPI for patents and holds a master’s degree in business law. In a previous experience, he was the co-founder president of a biotech company. One of his missions at CYROI was the creation of the business incubator CBTECH and the development and implementation of a quality procedure to streamline its operation, resulting in obtaining the certification AFNOR NF X 50770. Participating in the company’s scientific orientations, he is responsible for the valuation of Torskal’s intangible asset and negotiates the research contracts with the various partners.

Dr Jolanda SPADAVECCHIA, HDR

Scientific partner

Jolanda Spadavecchia is the team leader of one department in CSPBAT, CNRS, University of Paris 13

She began her scientific training at the Faculty of Chemistry at the University of Bari in Italy under the supervision of Prof. Francesco Naso. Since 2010, she is a senior researcher for the CNRS. Her research focuses on the synthesis of organic compounds, pharmaceutical biomolecules, gold nanoparticles, PLGA-PEG nanoparticles, hybrid nanoparticles for drug delivery, sensor and characterization applications, DNA. Another research activity is devoted to the synthesis of TiO2 Nanocrystals and Nanohybrid System and chemical functionalization on bio-interface. Very active on the international scene (TCD-Dublin (St.James Hospital) in Nanomedicine and Cancer Therapy for the development of new nanovectors), Jolanda actively participated and published with TCD-Dublin in FP-7 Q Nano infrastructure for nanotheranostics . Dr Jolanda Spadavecchia and Professor Marc Lamy of La Chapelle have both contributed their scientific work in chemistry and physics of materials since the creation of Torskal. Jolanda has supervised 4 PhD theses and 6 Master’s degrees in Nanotechnology-Bio-Interfaces, Biology and Therapeutics. She is co-author of more than 66 publications and 80 lectures. Index H 25.

Our work

The company Torskal targets two distinct markets: health and cosmetics by proposing a declination of the same technological brick (gold nanoparticles), according to market expectations:

-nanotheranostics (ie compounds with dual action of medical diagnosis and therapy) for oncology application. While scientific priority is attached to the development of a molecule for health, commercial activity also extends to the field of cosmetics.

-nanoparticles as cosmetic ingredients used in the formulation of dermocosmetics

The third offer of the company concerns the supply of gold nanoparticles. Our clients are, for the moment, other local scientific research groups.